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Michael Forster

b. 1946 Person Name: Michael Forster, b. 1946 Adapter of "Send forth your Spirit, Lord" in Complete Anglican Hymns Old and New

b. 1950 Author of "Psalm 104: Send Forth Your Spirit" in RitualSong (2nd ed.) Marty Haugen (b. 1950), is a prolific liturgical composer with many songs included in hymnals across the liturgical spectrum of North American hymnals and beyond, with many songs translated into different languages. He was raised in the American Lutheran Church, received a BA in psychology from Luther College, yet found his first position as a church musician in a Roman Catholic parish at a time when the Roman Catholic Church was undergoing profound liturgical and musical changes after Vatican II. Finding a vocation in that parish to provide accessible songs for worship, he continued to compose and to study, receiving an MA in pastoral studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul Minnesota. A number of liturgical settings were prepared for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and more than 400 of his compositions are available from several publishers, especially GIA Publications, who also produced some 30 recordings of his songs. He is composer-in-residence at Mayflower Community Congregational Church in Minneapolis and continues to compose and travel to speak and teach at worship events around the world. Emily Brink

John L. Bell

b. 1949 Person Name: John Bell Author of "Bless, O my soul, the Lord your God" in Scripture Song Database John Bell (b. 1949) was born in the Scottish town of Kilmarnock in Ayrshire, intending to be a music teacher when he felt the call to the ministry. But in frustration with his classes, he did volunteer work in a deprived neighborhood in London for a time and also served for two years as an associate pastor at the English Reformed Church in Amsterdam. After graduating he worked for five years as a youth pastor for the Church of Scotland, serving a large region that included about 500 churches. He then took a similar position with the Iona Community, and with his colleague Graham Maule, began to broaden the youth ministry to focus on renewal of the church’s worship. His approach soon turned to composing songs within the identifiable traditions of hymnody that began to address concerns missing from the current Scottish hymnal: "I discovered that seldom did our hymns represent the plight of poor people to God. There was nothing that dealt with unemployment, nothing that dealt with living in a multicultural society and feeling disenfranchised. There was nothing about child abuse…,that reflected concern for the developing world, nothing that helped see ourselves as brothers and sisters to those who are suffering from poverty or persecution." [from an interview in Reformed Worship (March 1993)] That concern not only led to writing many songs, but increasingly to introducing them internationally in many conferences, while also gathering songs from around the world. He was convener for the fourth edition of the Church of Scotland’s Church Hymnary (2005), a very different collection from the previous 1973 edition. His books, The Singing Thing and The Singing Thing Too, as well as the many collections of songs and worship resources produced by John Bell—some together with other members of the Iona Community’s “Wild Goose Resource Group,” —are available in North America from GIA Publications. Emily Brink

Steven C. Warner

b. 1954 Author of "Send Forth Your Spirit, O Lord" in Psalms for All Seasons

Hugh Wilson

1766 - 1824 Person Name: Hugh Wilson (1766-1824) Composer of "MARTYRDOM" in The Hymnal Hugh Wilson (b. Fenwick, Ayrshire, Scotland, c. 1766; d. Duntocher, Scotland, 1824) learned the shoemaker trade from his father. He also studied music and mathematics and became proficient enough in various subjects to become a part-time teacher to the villagers. Around 1800, he moved to Pollokshaws to work in the cotton mills and later moved to Duntocher, where he became a draftsman in the local mill. He also made sundials and composed hymn tunes as a hobby. Wilson was a member of the Secession Church, which had separated from the Church of Scotland. He served as a manager and precentor in the church in Duntocher and helped found its first Sunday school. It is thought that he composed and adapted a number of psalm tunes, but only two have survived because he gave instructions shortly before his death that all his music manuscripts were to be destroyed. Bert Polman

Margaret Rizza

b. 1929 Person Name: Margaret Rizza, b. 1929 Composer of "[Bless the Lord, O my soul]" in Complete Anglican Hymns Old and New

Shirley Luttio

Arranger of "[Bless the Lord, O my soul]" in Psalms for All Seasons

James McGranahan

1840 - 1907 Person Name: Jas. McGranahan Composer of "[O Thou, my soul, bless God the Lord]" in Redemption Songs James McGranahan USA 1840-1907. Born at West Fallowfield, PA, uncle of Hugh McGranahan, and son of a farmer, he farmed during boyhood. Due to his love of music his father let him attend singing school, where he learned to play the bass viol. At age 19 he organized his first singing class and soon became a popular teacher in his area of the state. He became a noted musician and hymns composer. His father was reluctant to let him pursue this career, but he soon made enough money doing it that he was able to hire a replacement farmhand to help his father while he studied music. His father, a wise man, soon realized how his son was being used by God to win souls through his music. He entered the Normal Music School at Genesco, NY, under William B Bradbury in 1861-62. He met Miss Addie Vickery there. They married in 1863, and were very close to each other their whole marriage, but had no children. She was also a musician and hymnwriter in her own right. For a time he held a postmaster’s job in Rome, PA. In 1875 he worked for three years as a teacher and director at Dr. Root’s Normal Music Institute. He because well-known and successful as a result, and his work attracted much attention. He had a rare tenor voice, and was told he should train for the operatic stage. It was a dazzling prospect, but his friend, Philip Bliss, who had given his wondrous voice to the service of song for Christ for more than a decade, urged him to do the same. Preparing to go on a Christmas vacation with his wife, Bliss wrote McGranahan a letter about it, which McGranahan discussed with his friend Major Whittle. Those two met in person for the first time at Ashtubula, OH, both trying to retrieve the bodies of the Bliss’s, who died in a bridge-failed train wreck. Whittle thought upon meeting McGranahan, that here is the man Bliss has chosen to replace him in evangelism. The men returned to Chicago together and prayed about the matter. McGranahan gave up his post office job and the world gained a sweet gospel singer/composer as a result. McGranahan and his wife, and Major Whittle worked together for 11 years evangelizing in the U.S., Great Britain, and Ireland. They made two visits to the United Kingdom, in 1880 and 1883, the latter associated with Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey evangelistic work. McGranahan pioneered use of the male choir in gospel song. While holding meetings in Worcester, MA, he found himself with a choir of only male voices. Resourcefully, he quickly adapted the music to those voices and continued with the meetings. The music was powerful and started what is known as male choir and quartet music. Music he published included: “The choice”, “Harvest of song”, “Gospel Choir”,, “Gospel hymns #3,#4, #5, #6” (with Sankey and Stebbins), “Songs of the gospel”, and “Male chorus book”. The latter three were issued in England. In 1887 McGranahan’s health compelled him to give up active work in evangelism. He then built a beautiful home, Maplehurst, among friends at Kinsman, OH, and settled down to the composition of music, which would become an extension of his evangelistic work. Though his health limited his hours, of productivity, some of his best hymns were written during these days. McGranahan was a most lovable, gentle, modest, unassuming, gentleman, and a refined and cultured Christian. He loved good fellowship, and often treated guests to the most delightful social feast. He died of diabetes at Kinsman, OH, and went home to be with his Savior. John Perry

David Evans

1874 - 1948 Person Name: David Evans, 1874-1948 Harmonizer of "ST PAUL (ABERDEEN)" in The Irish Presbyterian Hymnbook David Evans (b. Resolven, Glamorganshire, Wales, 1874; d. Rosllannerchrugog, Denbighshire, Wales, 1948) was an important leader in Welsh church music. Educated at Arnold College, Swansea, and at University College, Cardiff, he received a doctorate in music from Oxford University. His longest professional post was as professor of music at University College in Cardiff (1903-1939), where he organized a large music department. He was also a well-known and respected judge at Welsh hymn-singing festivals and a composer of many orchestral and choral works, anthems, service music, and hymn tunes. Bert Polman

Thomas Sternhold

1449 - 1549 Person Name: T. Sternhold Author of "O Thou My Soul!" in Redemption Songs Thomas Sternhold was Groom of the Robes to Henry VIII and Edward VI. With Hopkins, he produced the first English version of the Psalms before alluded to. He completed fifty-one; Hopkins and others composed the remainder. He died in 1549. Thirty-seven of his psalms were edited and published after his death, by his friend Hopkins. The work is entitled "All such Psalms of David as Thomas Sternhold, late Groome of the King's Majestye's Robes, did in his Lyfetime drawe into Englyshe Metre." Of the version annexed to the Prayer Book, Montgomery says: "The merit of faithful adherence to the original has been claimed for this version, and need not to be denied, but it is the resemblance which the dead bear to the living." Wood, in his "Athenae Oxonlenses" (1691, vol. I, p. 62), has the following account of the origin of Sternhold's psalms: "Being a most zealous reformer, and a very strict liver, he became so scandalized at the amorous and obscene songs used in the Court, that he, forsooth, turned into English metre fifty-one of David's psalms, and caused musical notes to be set to them, thinking thereby that the courtiers would sing them instead of their sonnets; but they did not, some few excepted. However, the poetry and music being admirable, and the best that was made and composed in these times, they were thought fit to be sung in all parochial churches." Of Sternhold and Hopkins, old Fuller says: "They were men whose piety was better than their poetry, and they had drunk more of Jordan than of Helicon." Sternhold and Hopkins may be taken as the representatives of the strong tendency to versify Scripture that came with the Reformation into England--a work men eagerly entered on without the talent requisite for its successful accomplishment. The tendency went so far, that even the "Acts of the Apostles" was put into rhyme, and set to music by Dr. Christopher Tye. --Annotations of the Hymnal, Charles Hutchins, M.A. 1872.